He was running late for work,and hoped he could get though traffic quickly. Captain Stanley was stickler for being on time. He had threatened to suspend his partner the last time he had been late.
As he pulled into the parking lot behind the station, he glanced at his watch. Two minutes to spare! He hurried inside and joined the others in the kitchen. "Hey,Roy,cutting it a little close, aren't you?" asked Chet Kelly,checking the time.
"Yeah, I had a flat on the way to work," he said, pouring himself a cup of coffee.
"I hope your partner has a better excuse than that," remarked Captain Stanley, as he walked into the room. Roy turned to at the Captain and saw that he did not seem to be in a very mood. Damn Johnny, he thought, you picked a bad day to be late!
Fifteen minutes later, Gage still hadn't arrived. Roy had called his house, and got his answering machine,so he was probably on his way. But Stanley was angrier with every minute that passed and still no John Gage. Fifteen minutes turned into thirty..and thiry into forty-five. This was like Johnny, thought Roy. Where the hell is he?
**************************
John came to with a start! What, where am I.?
He was laying on his cold floor in the living room wearing nothing but his underwear. ( Briefs not boxers, if you must know) How did I end up here? he thought.
He tried to get up but his head and back had other plans. "Ooohhh boy, that hurts I guess I won't do that again," he said out loud. "O.K. I’m going to need some help, but I can’t move."
"Swift move, Gage. How did you do this to you self?" he belittled himself about his new injuries.
Uhh! He remembered, he was leaving the bedroom on the way to the living room to turn on the stereo, while he got dressed. He skated on the throw carpet, As he had done a thousand times before, he skated on the throw carpet, which slid him into the living room ,so he could turn on the tunes. But this time he lost his balance, landed on his back on the floor and was knocked out.
"HELP!, HELP!" he began to yell, because he knew Mrs. Meyer's keen ears would hear him yelling. She would normally, but she had decided to walk her poodle this morning. John waited a few minutes and got no reply.
"Help! somebody help me!" he yelled again in vain. The silence was broken the phone ringing. After four rings the machine kicked in, "Hi this John, you know what to do thanks for calling...beep..."
"John, where are you, man? Cap is about to blow his stack, Remember A shift... work...24 on 48 off...You’re late!" Roy spouted into John's machine sarcastically.
******************************
"Cap,there is still no answer," Roy said becoming concerned now. John was 1 1/2 hours late for work. This had never happened. He's not at home, we haven't heard the tones go off for a TC or anything, Where the hell are you Johnny? Roy was trying to think.
Captain Stanley had to keep Dwyer over because Gage had not shown up yet. That made Dwyer's frigging day.
"Cap, do you mind if we go over to Johnny's apartment and see if he is there?"
"You just called him and he wasn't there," remarked Captain Stanley whose anger was growing by the minute and who was planning what to do to Gage when he did saunter in whistling, as he often did.
"But, Cap, he may be hurt or something, or maybe Mrs. Meyers knows where he is....It won't takes us long to go over there and check...20 minutes max," Roy requested.
"O.K. but you be ready to come back to your coverage area, mighty quick, if you get a call," resigned Cap
"Thanks, Cap, we will be right back," Roy said as he got in the squad.
**********************************
John was beginning to shiver and that was hurting his already aching back. He couldn't move to try to get a blanket off the couch, which would hurt worse than the shivering.
John heard a knock at the door. "Johnny, you in there, Johnny? " said Roy in a concerned voice.
" Roy, help! I fell on the floor!" yelled John from the living room.
"Dwyer, he's in there! Go get the gear and call in a still alarm," Roy said. Roy didn't need to say anything. Dwyer was already half way down the hall.I have his house key here somewhere on my keyring, he thought. Here it is. Roy let himself in. "Hi, partner, what did you do?!"
"Don't ask. You don't want to know. Just cover me up with a blanket I’m freezing," John said though chattering teeth.
"I will do better than that, I will give you a nice warm ride in the back of one of Mayfair's finest ambulance to Rampart General Hospital," Roy replied snidely.
"What hurts, John?" Roy inquired as he began to survey his partner.
"My back and my head and when I try to move I get dizzy. My back is really begins to throb." John was happy to answer Roy's questions. Anything to get him up off this cold floor.
Dwyer brought in the drug box, the biophone,trauma box along with a backboard and a collar.
Dwyer put down the stuff by Roy and took the biophone to make contact with Rampart.
"John, I think what's going to be the best to do is put a collar on you and log roll you on to the backboard, then transport you.” Roy told his partner after he had completed his head to toe survey.
Dwyer shared the situation with Rampart and they agreed with Roy's decision.
John was packaged and off to Rampart they went. Dwyer followed in the Squad. It was his job, when they got to Rampart, to call Captain Stanley with the details of John's accident. They all three knew everybody would be sitting near the phone, to hear what happened after the still alarm was called into dispatch.
*********************
Roy and John were in Treatment Two waiting for X-Ray.
"So are you going to tell me what happened or do I have to wait for the book," Roy said smugly to John.
"I would prefer not to, but you will find out any way. You always do," John returned smartly.
"You know that loose rug, I have the lays on the floor by my living room?"
" I think so, is it the brown one that always has the feet impressions on it."
"YES, that one. Well I ska..." John didn't have a chance to finish
Roy interrupted. "Johnny you didn't?...." Roy was trying to hold back a laugh, but found it uncontrollable. He burst out laughing. Roy left the room singing "Let's go surfin' now everybody's learnin' how......" He was laughing as he was singing.
"ROY.....ROY! This better not get back to the guys...ROY!"
It was too late; Roy had already left the room. John knew it would a long time before he lived this one down.
"John's Excuse " ©1999 Deb Flint. "Emergency!" and its characters © Mark VII Productions, Inc. All rights reserved. No infringement of any copyrights or trademarks is intended or should be inferred. This is a work of fiction, and any similarity to actual persons or events is purely coincidental.
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